News Release

WASHINGTON (July 14, 2011) – Joslin Diabetes Center convened a national summit to explore methods to effectively prevent type 2 diabetes based on research results from the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), a landmark, NIH-funded trial with economic and patient outcomes that have the potential to fundamentally transform care of patients at risk for diabetes.

According to the CDC over 25.8 million Americans suffer from diabetes, with some 2 million new cases each year. The CDC estimates that by 2050, one-third of Americans could develop diabetes. The current annual economic cost of diabetes in the U.S. is estimated to be more than $218 billion.

The Diabetes Prevention Summit: Translating Clinical Science into Practice was co-moderated by John Brooks, President and CEO of Joslin Diabetes Center, and Dr. Sachin Jain of Brigham and Women’s Hospital (formerly Senior Advisor to the Administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), The summit included over 40 key national diabetes constituencies and organizations and was held at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington, D.C.

“With the passage of health care reform and the creation of the new Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, there is growing momentum to implement new models of health care delivery for patients at risk for or diagnosed with chronic diseases,” said John Brooks, Joslin’s President and CEO. “We invited a select group of researchers, clinicians, advocates, and policymakers to discuss how we can effectively translate our best evidence on diabetes prevention into practice.”

Dr. Richard Gilfillan, Acting Director of the CMS Innovation Center and Dr. Griffin Rodgers, Director of National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) attended and helped frame the opportunities and challenges that exist to nationally scale the DPP. Health Affairs, the nation’s leading journal of health policy, was the media sponsor of the meeting.

During the summit, John Brooks announced that Joslin Diabetes Center has begun work on a new initiative at the Center that will focus on advancing translation strategies and efforts in the broader community. The Diabetes Prevention Initiative at Joslin Diabetes Center aims to catalyze prevention activities; engage academic, patient advocacy, public and private sector resources; and address cost-effective efforts to bring diabetes prevention to scale.

“The results of the Diabetes Prevention Program have significant implications for the care of patients at risk for diabetes,” notes Dr. Jain. “We have learned that, for many patients, diabetes is not an inevitability, but a preventable disease. The question that the summit addressed was how we can use important new levers in the Affordable Care Act to translate these findings into widespread practice. The Joslin Diabetes Center’s leadership towards this end is invaluable.”